Convergence
by halo2freak007
Summary: As Hinata lay dying, surrounded by sand, she gives one final gift to the one she loves. Naruto struggles to find his place, not only as a Jinchuuriki, but as a weilder of the Byakugan.
1. Chapter 1

Convergence

The Beginning

The mission had been simple. Go to Suna, find info, rescue Gaara, and come home. Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata, a three man team that covered all angles. A scout, a medic, and a fighter. Of course, there would be a few Jounin with them, but what did it matter? It's an A-class mission! Who cares! Well… they should have cared more.

A mangled body, a ripped up cloak and a pile of splinters were all that's left of the two Akatsuki members that abducted Gaara. The tree man Genin team was not faring well. Even before they realized that their Jounin backup failed to arrive, they knew it was almost impossible to fight these S-classed Missing-nin.

Of the three, Sakura was the least wounded. Some bruises, some minor cuts, and a sprained wrist were the extent of her injuries. She faired much better than her team mates.

Naruto was covered in burns from the clay explosives. Both of his eyes had been sliced out by the scorpion tail of the puppet user, leaving a scar from one side of his face, across his eye socket, over the bridge of his nose, and all the way through his other eye. In the pain after that action, he unleashed a Rasengan on the puppet's exposed underbelly, drilling all the way through to the controller inside. However, the damage was done. There was no way he would be able to see again, seeing as his eyes were no where to be found, leaving the exposed sockets to sting in the dust. Amazingly, he was not only still alive, but conscious.

But, the part that scared Sakura the most was Hinata. Her right arm and left knee were both blown off, from the shoulder and knee down, respectively. It didn't help her image much that half of her intestines were pulverized and the other half was hanging out of her belly and soaking in the light dust that made up the floor. Yet, it still amazed Sakura that she was still alive, albeit barely, and was still conscious.

Sakura was frantically trying to close and cauterize Hinata's wounds, but to no avail.

"Sa…ku…ra…"

"Hinata, don't speak. You'll be fine, just hold on…" The panic in Sakura's voice, despite her training with Tsunade, was painfully obvious.

"I know… I'm… dying. How… is… N…Naruto-…Kun?"

"He… he'll be blind for life, but he'll live. Please, don't talk I'll pull you through this!"

"Sakura!" it was barely a whisper, yet Hinata put so much force behind it that Sakura stopped instantly.

"Take…Take my… Eyes… I w…won't ne…need them." She paused, grimacing in pain, before relaxing slightly.

"Strange…I cant…feel…anything…."

"No! Hold on, Hinata!"

"Sakura… Tell Naruto-kun…that…I…Lo..ve….him…"

Hinata's heart finally stopped beating and the blank white eyes that managed to be so expressive dulled.

With a sob, Sakura performed her friend's last wish. Just as she finished sealing up the last of Naruto's wounds, she fell back from chakra exhaustion… crying tears for her lost friend… the first she had ever seen die…

_'Why? Why does it have to be this way! She and I... we only just recently became good freinds... but... '_ At this point, Sakura fell unconscious, drifting into a mix between a halucenation and a dream.

(Flash Back)

"Hey, forehead girl!

"INO-PIG! Stop calling me that!"

"I missed you too, Sakura..." the sarcasm dripping of her voice made the pink haired Kunoichi even more angry.

"Anyway, I'm here to tell you about the Rookie 9's Girls Night Out! Sure, it's only gonna be me, you, Hinata, and Tenten, but still... it'll be nice."

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow night at 6. Meet at my place, ok?"

"Sure!"

(At the party)

"KARAOKE TIME!"

The microphone for the rather inexpensive home karaoke machine was thrust into the hands of one shy, blushing girl. Of course, it was Hinata.

"N...No...I-I couldn't! I'm n-not g-good at s-s-singing."

Although she spoke barely above a whisper, the other three girls heard her and started protesting.

"Come one, Hinata! Just find a song and sing! It's not that hard!"

"Demo..."

Ino spoke up with an evil grin on her face. "Come on Hinata, just pretend you're singing for Naruto!"

At this, Hinata's already deep blush turned even deeper, threatening to create an entirely new spectrum of red.

"N-no, I c-couldn't!"

"Come on! I know you want to!" Tenten's argument wasn't very persuasive.

"Hinata, if you sing, i'll put in a good word for you with Naruto when he gets back..." Sakura's sing-song voice made Hinata's eyes shoot up. It's unsettling enough watching Gai and Lee have fire in thier eyes, but to see an eye completely white burn with an even more intense flame... well... they were all mentally shuddering... and Ino could swear she heard "THE POWER OF YOUTH" very faintly in the distance.

Hinata grabbed the microphone, stuck in a cd, and started the music...

(End flash back)

Sakura slowly came awake, looking around to see pure white walls.

_'A hospital...'_

The memories flooded back, and she started crying once again, mourning the loss of her freind.

* * *

Halo here. I've been playing around with this for some time… and I think I'd write a one or two shot about it. If you like it enough (Read: if I get enough reviews) I'll make it into a full blown story. Already got something of a plot formed, but I'm not sure if I'll do it. Depending on YOUR reaction, I might. Sorry to make Hinata die, I know I'm evil, but to do it, it had to be done. No other Hyuuga would give up their eyes, except MAYBE Neji, but the Caged Bird seal would seal them up before they could be used. And I'm sorry to make it a cliché of the whole Obito-Kakashi thing. I though it'd be interesting in any case. Oh well… except now it's two eyes instead of one… Meh… Anyway, READ AND REVIEW! Laters! 


	2. Chapter 2

Convergence

Chapter 2

Naruto's dreams where chaotic and spontaneous. Most were flashes from his childhood, but the rest… he had no idea where they came from. Most of them were mere phrases, something along the lines of this…

"_Stupid Demon"_

"_Pathetic"_

"_BAKA"_

"_You're so weak"_

"_Dobe"_

"_You're a disappointment to the clan"_

"_Shut up! There's no way you could beat Sasuke-kun!"_

"_Fate has decreed that I would win, #!47-sama"_

"_I'll kill you!"_

"_**Pathetic Human, I'll KILL YOU!"**_

With a jolt, Naruto woke. His head was spinning, despite being lying down, from his scrambled dreams. He was sure that half of the things that happened to him in his dream just… hadn't happened.

Naruto sat up and groaned, holding his head in pain.

'_Damn. Why is it that every time I wake up in a hospital, I have a huge headache…?'_

Naruto started fingering the bandages wrapped around his head. He followed them all the way around, stopping with is hands right over his eyes.

'_What the hell… I can see the room, but I have bandages over my eyes? And why does everything seem… transparent?'_

He looked around the room, still confused as to how he could see it at all. There wasn't much to take in. White walls, curtains, a bed, a bedside table with a single flower on it, and a window that was slightly open to let in a small breeze.

Deciding to let his mind wander, he started replaying the fight in his head.

(Flashback)

They had found the cave where the two Akatsuki members had gone. The fight started out pretty evenly, but it soon started changing. Their plan to separate the two failed early on, and they had to struggle to recover. Even after taking several hits from exploding birds and a couple of stab wounds from the puppet, he still fought on.

When one of their opponents did a Doton jutsu, Naruto got hit. Mud crawled up his legs to his knees and hardened, entrapping him. He couldn't dodge the eagle sized clay bird flying at him. The next thing he knew, Hinata had jumped in front of him and took the blast. Breaking free from his bonds, he charged the puppet master. Failing to dodge his attack, he felt a stinging pain across his eyes, and then the explosion of his Rasengan. Before he could recover, he felt a kunai pierce his back. Whipping around despite the pain, he formed another Rasengan and thrust it at the direction the pain came from. By sheer luck alone, he hit the former stone Nin right in the face with it, blowing a huge hole out of the back of his head.

He didn't know how long he laid there, his blood pooling in the dust, but after a while, he felt someone holding his head and talking, but he couldn't make out the words. Then, there was a stinging pain, and he could see Sakura sitting over him… and then he fell into unconsciousness.

(End Flashback)

Tsunade sighed, wishing she could have a nice bottle of sake in her hand right about now. As she walked down the halls of the hospital, she pondered her current situation. Sure, the mission to rescue the Kazekage was a success, but not without losses. Hinata… died. She got the story from Sakura, including the eye transplant. She was amazed that the transplant had worked at all. If it wasn't for the Kyuubi, Naruto probably would have died. The thing about transplanting eyes with doujutsu was that they doujutsu would always be active, like with Kakashi's Sharingan. Naruto was no exception. The largest problem was that he had to deal with sensory overload. The Byakugan's sight was so different from normal sight that it was like night and day. She imagined that it would be quite disorientating to be able to see all the way around her head after an entire lifetime of seeing normally.

However, Naruto could deal with the sensory overload, given enough time. The problem was that, because the Byakugan could see through almost anything, there was no way to block its sight. Again, like Kakashi's Sharingan, it drained chakra to use, and when it saw something, it was being used. But, Kakashi's Sharingan couldn't see through a bandage, while the Byakugan could. The problem with this was that Naruto's implanted Byakugan would be constantly draining chakra, because it could see through the bandages over his eyes. Even with they boy's amazing chakra levels, it wouldn't last for long. It seemed that his new eyes drained chakra even when he slept. He was only alive because of several chakra transplants from her, Jiraiya, and Shizune. No one else would bother to help him.

His chakra levels, thanks to Kyuubi, were rapidly increasing, as was his chakra recovery rate. It seemed the fox wasn't ready to die yet, allowing his Youkai to alter the boy's chakra system just enough to allow him to live. It wasn't much, due to the restrictions of the seal, but it was enough that the balance between the chakra drain of his eyes and the recovery rate had finally balanced out at about 3 AM. His body was now producing more chakra than the Byakugan could drain, but… the increase of the recovery rate had leveled off… it was no longer increasing. Although Naruto now had roughly the same amount of chakra as her or Jiraiya, he recovered at about one fourth of the rate. If she ran out of chakra, she wouldn't be back to normal for about a week. If Naruto ran out of chakra, he wouldn't be back to normal for a month.

She sighed. If he wanted to continue his life as a ninja, he'd better drastically improve his chakra control.

She stopped in front of Naruto's room and opened the door. He didn't even turn his head to look at her when he said "Hey, baa-chan."

The first thing Tsunade did was dig her pinky in her ear. She must have a buildup of wax, because there was no way that Naruto of all people would talk in little more than a whisper, let alone say his nickname to her that he usually yelled out at the top of his lungs.

"Naruto? How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine. Just a little sleepy."

For a minute nothing was said. Deciding to break the silence, Naruto spoke up.

"Baa-chan… why do I have bandages around my eyes? They feel fine. I can see perfectly… and why can I see through the bandages? And… why can I see the back of my head?"

"Naruto… what do you remember about your fight?"

"I…I remember… Hinata!"

At the end of that phrase, he jumped up, looking around frantically.

"Where is she!" Usually, Naruto would be yelling, but now… he was barely speaking in a normal conversational tone.

"Naruto… she….she's dead."

"W…What!"

"There was no way for her to survive… and… her last request… was that you…. Was that you would have her eyes. Sakura did the field transplant. It seems that… you're adapting to them quite well… but, the Hyuuga clan still doesn't know."

"You…you mean that… I have the Byakugan?"

"Yes."

"Then… those dreams… they… they're Hinata's memories."

Tsunade started and looked at him. She recalled what Kakashi had told her when he found out.

"Yes, Kakashi said as much. He told me that, because you have her eyes, you would have some of her memories. As Kakashi is the only known user of a transplanted Doujutsu, he's the leading expert on the subject."

"I…I see."

"Naruto…" Before she could continue, Naruto cut her off.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"… 3 weeks."

"Is there any reason I have to be held at the hospital?"

"No, but…"

"Can I go?"

The simple statement made Tsunade deflate.

"Yes… I expect you to be in my office tomorrow morning at 9. Don't be late."

"I won't, Baa-chan."

Tsunade walked out on the verge of tears. Somewhere, even though she though Naruto was an annoying little brat, she still considered him her brother. She had hoped that maybe he would allow her to comfort him, but… well, there was always tomorrow.

'_Damn, I really need a drink now…"_

After Tsunade left, Naruto slowly got out of bed, stretching his slightly atrophied muscles. Flashes of exercises he'd never done before came to mind and he repeated them as best as he could. While performing them, he let his mind wander.

'_It's strange… having another person's memories… especially from a girl. I'm glad I'm a boy. I never want to go through with 'that' again… God, I had no idea how bad girls have it… Now I know why they're cranky once a month…'_

After finishing his stretches, he pulled open the drawers of the bedside table, pulling out his orange jumpsuit. He frowned at it. Usually he loved orange, despite the fact that a ninja should never wear that color, but now… it seemed wrong. For some reason, he had the strangest urge to get a crème colored jacket instead…

He sighed and slipped his jumpsuit on. He fell over a couple of times, his perception and balance off because of his near 360 degree vision, and from the fact that a wall would randomly disappear and he would see things from a long ways away, as if watching through binoculars. Even during this 'zooming' vision, he retained his 360 degree vision, leaving his head hurting like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was like his mind was rewiring itself to accommodate his new perception, and it hurt. He was disoriented, and nearly constantly off balance. Finally, he managed to get fully dressed. He perched on the ledge of the now open window and gripped the side to balance himself. It just wouldn't do to get discharged from the hospital only to be put back in from falling several stories.

Taking a gigantic leap, he flew towards a neighboring rooftop.

He found that, somehow, his movements were more graceful and seemingly more coordinated. He guessed it was from better hand-eye coordination now that he could see each and every part of his body at the same time. As he ran, his headache started subsiding, and his balance kept returning. It seemed that, after several falls, that he started growing accustomed to his new vision. After a while, he found himself in front of the Hyuuga compound. For some reason, this place screamed 'home' at him, yet he knew it wasn't his apartment. Before the guards could see, he jumped away, moving towards his home.

Tsunade finally got to her office. Just as she was reaching underneath her desk to get her bottle of sake, she heard a noise.

Something slammed against the office doors before sliding down. Instead of grabbing her sake bottle, she grabbed a kunai from the kunai pouch duct taped to the underside of her desk. The door burst open, and just before she threw the kunai, she recognized who it was.

"Hyuuga Neji… it'd be nice if you knocked instead of knocking out my guards."

"Hokage-sama… where is Naruto."

"Why do you ask?"

"Because… he failed."

"What did he fail at?"

"He failed to protect his teammates… he failed to save Hinata…"

Neji, despite his cold exterior, cared about his cousin a lot. Not in a romantical sense, but more like a sibling. Besides, she did call him her brother all the time. Over the three years that Naruto was gone, Hinata had grown on him. They became quite close. She'd even asked him to help her train when they weren't training with their respective teams or with Hiashi.

Tsunade sighed and put away the kunai.

"If I tell you where he is, do you promise not to try anything against him?"

"… yes."

She sighed. "He should be at his apartment by now. He may be sleeping… after all, getting used to the Byakugan would really take it out of someone…"

Neji froze. He slowly brought his gaze to meet Tsunade's.

"He what?"

"Shit… didn't mean to say that…"

"What was that about the Byakugan?"

"…Sit down, Neji. This might take a while…"

Naruto carefully put his kunai against the crack in the floor boards. Slowly and meticulously, he pulled up the loose section in such a manner that he didn't leave a scratch to tell someone where the secret compartment was. Finally pulling the section up, he reached in side and took out a fairly large leather bag. He opened it up and carefully pulled out a large amount of bills. After stuffing the bag back into the compartment and carefully replacing the lid, Naruto put the wad of bills, not in his frog purse like one would think, but underneath the collar of his orange jacket. Too many times he had been either pick pocketed or mugged, and he didn't want to loose any of his life savings.

As he was walking to his door, the wall in front of him randomly became transparent. Naruto pulled out a kunai as he saw someone jump down on his front porch. Stealthily making his way to the front door, he carefully put his hand on the door handle. The figure stood up, and Naruto visibly relaxed. It was Neji-niisan. He paused… where had the nii-san come from?

Just as Neji was about to knock, Naruto opened the door.

"Hey there, Neji."

"Naruto… why are you still wearing your bandages?"

Naruto paused and put his hands to his head. He faintly blushed and his fingers started pushing against each other.

As he saw himself, he couldn't help but think _'Why the hell am I doing this? Why do I feel so… unstable?'_

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he carefully unwrapped his bandages. He grimaced from the light as they finally came off. Even though he could see through solid object, the Byakugan was very susceptible to bright lights.

Neji watched in a sort of half amusement and half sadness as he watched Naruto play with his fingers much like his late cousin had. It hurt him… but for some reason, he knew that she lived on, if only in small mannerisms, because of Naruto.

When the bandages finally came off, Neji's eyes widened, and then narrowed.

'_So it's true… Naruto does have the Byakugan. And that scar… it explains why Hinata would give her eyes to him.'_

"Neji… what are you doing here?"

"I came to see… if it was true."

"See if what what was true?"

"That you have the Byakugan… or more importantly, Hinata's Byakugan."

At that simple phrase, Naruto seemed to go from his insatiable curiosity that he was so known for to a shy, introverted person. His head lowered and his shoulders slumped. For a minute, an uncomfortable silence came between them.

"Neji… could I ask you a favor?"

"…That depends."

"Could… could you help me buy something that isn't orange?"

"… Naruto… if you wanted to go shopping, ask one of the girls. I'm not interested."

Neji turned to leave, but Naruto's voice stopped him.

"Neji… I don't know exactly what Hinata liked to wear… but for some reason… I feel like I need to wear something… for her."

He paused.

"I feel like… I'm no longer just living for myself, but for her as well. Please, you know more about her than I do… will you help me?"

A mental battle raged in Neji's head as he pondered the pros and cons. His analytical side and his emotional side waged a brutal war with each other. After a moment, he looked back at the now white-eyed blonde.

"…Come on."

* * *

Halo here. I've decided that I'll continue this story as long as at least SOME people want to read it. I've decided that, instead of just thinking about a story and writing it later, during class when I have spare time I'm going to be jotting things down. Although this may lead to lower grades, it'll mean that my stories will get updated faster and with longer chapters.

Now, to answer some questions before you ask. If you're up to date with the manga, you'll notice that Kakashi wasn't late before he got his Sharingan eye. However, his personality became much different after the transplant. If you havn't already guessed, Naruto will be WAY OOC. He sure as hell won't be the loud obnoxious wierdo he is in canon, but he also won't be completely introverted and shy like Hinata, nor will he stutter. He will start to have some confidence problems, but no more than an average person.

Also, rest assured that this won't be a typical 'Adopted into the Hyuuga Clan' fic. This may spoil most of next chapter, but Naruto won't be accepted into the Hyuuga clan. The only Jyuken he'll ever learn will be from Hinata's memories and stuff he can sort of make up as he goes along. He won't have the Kaiten nor the Rokujuuyonshou or Hachi nijuuyonshou (or whatever they are, i didn't bother looking them up, don't criticise me for not spelling them right.) And most of all, Naruto won't be instantly more powerful. He'll actually be hindered in battle for quite a while before he gets better. If you had your entire perception of sight completely reformed, you'd be off for a while too. He'll need alot of intensive training, mostly on his own with Kage Bunshin, to be able to use his Byakugan to it's fullest.

If you have any other questions you'd like to ask, please feel free to PM or review and ask them. I'll be happy to answer.

Oh, and before I forget, I'm going to be discontinuing both Pools of Green and By My Love's Tail because I've completely lost the feel for both stories and I have no idea where to take them. I'll be taking them down in one week's time, but if anyone would like to adopt them, please PM me or something. Thanks! Laters!


	3. Chapter 3

Convergence

Chapter 3

Naruto was, to say the least, a little bit uncomfortable. His new cloths were not what he had in mind. He imagined his new outfit to be simple and effective. However, Neji's taste was… somewhat more expensive. His reflection from the shop window stared back at him with his now pale lavender eyes.

The pale crème jacket was made of pure silk. It slid silently and smoothly. The downy stuffing was sure to keep him warm on even the coldest of Fire Country's winter nights. The hood would certainly help too. All in all, it looked like a much more masculine version of Hinata's jacket, minus the Hyuuga emblem. Hinata… the though of one of his precious people dead brought a pang in his chest that seemed to hurt not just his chest, or his feelings, but seemed to have torn his soul asunder.

He brushed those thoughts aside and continued to stare at his reflection in the window. He wore black shinobi pants, tied up at the ankles to keep the hem out of his way. It as a simple way to prevent tripping. They pants, although not as baggy as most shinobi wore, were far from being the near skin tight pants some Kunoichi seemed to favor. Gai and Lee didn't count as shinobi. Something with eyebrows that big couldn't be called human. More like a dust bunny colony… he hoped.

Naruto turned away from the window, breaking another chain of thought. As he walked, he stared at his feet, seemingly mesmerized by his black shinobi sandals. These weren't just your run-of-the-mill shinobi sandals, but far from it. They had special seas sewn into them that allowed chakra to be much easier distributed throughout the rubber, effectively increasing friction, and making it easer to run faster, jump farther (with a small burst to increase your velocity) and climb easier. Not to mention kick harder.

A shoulder bumped into his, and yet again his train of thought was broken. Neither person went sprawling, yet both were stumbling to regain balance. Although he could see 360 degrees at all times, that doesn't mean that Naruto paid attention to everything he saw. He didn't have to turn his head to see the face of the person who bumped into him, yet he did out of reflex. His pale lavender eyes met with a pair of brown eyes he wasn't familiar with.

"Watch where you're… oh, gomen nasai, Hyuuga-sama. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The stranger bowed low after seeing Naruto's eyes. This was a new experience to him. Being the village pariah meant that few people, if any, paid any respect to you. Being bowed to in the middle of a street because you ran into someone was definitely something that had never happened to him before. Not knowing what to do, Naruto, blushing furiously, waved a hand in front of him.

"No, no, it's my fault. I wasn't paying attention."

"Ah… well, in any case, have a good day, Hyuuga-sama"

The stranger stopped bowing and walked away. A little confused by this turn of events, Naruto just kept walking, this time paying more attention to where he was going. As he walked, he stuck a hand into his pocket. Feeling something hard in there, he pulled it out to inspect it.

Blue cloth framed a silver plate, bent slightly to accommodate a spherical curve. The Konoha symbol was engraved into it. Naruto's distorted reflection stared back from the shiny surface of his forehead protector. Naruto stopped and stared at if for a minute. Somehow, wearing it on his forehead felt… wrong. It was like it was meant to be worn in some other style. Naruto pondered that for a minute. He caught sight of his new eyes, and his thoughts drifted to their previous owner. With a burst of inspiration, Naruto loosely tied it around his neck, tight enough that it wouldn't fall off or make excessive noise, but loose enough not to be constricting or uncomfortable.

Feeling just a little bit better, he continued his aimless wandering. He walked where ever his fancy chose, never staying in one spot for long. It was strange not to get hateful glares, but now… it was that of confusion. Of course, what would 'The Demon' be doing with the Hyuuga's eyes? Not knowing what to make of the spectacle, most villagers just continued doing what they were doing before.

His musings were, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, interrupted.

"Naruto! Hey, Naruto! Wait up!"

He knew that voice. He didn't even turn to look at the head of pink hair that wove its way through the crowd. The medic-nin had a time ducking and weaving through the busy streets. Finally, she got fed up with it and jumped. She stuck to the side of a building and ran along the wall until she was close to her target. Taking another jump off, she twisted and flipped in mid air, coming to a graceful landing next to the blonde haired and now lavender eyed Jinchuuriki.

"Finally! I've been looking all over for you!"

"Hello Sakura-s…um …Sakura."

"Naruto… were you just about to call me Sakura-san?"

"Ano… yeah."

"Wow… Hinata's personality is really shining through, isn't it?"

"Yes, I guess it is."

"Anyway, I'm glad I found you. I didn't get a chance to tell you when you got out of the hospital."

"What is it?"

"First of all, Gaara wanted me to tell you that he's recovered, and he'll be fine. He also wanted me to tell you that he's looking for a rematch."

Naruto grinned, albeit shyly. The prospect of a match against Gaara sounded very exiting.

"And… also, I wanted to tell you… well… it's from Hinata."

Naruto seemed to fold in on himself, almost closing himself off from the world.

"Naruto… I can tell you later, if you want…"

"No… I… I'd better hear it now"

"Naruto…" Sakura, for the first time since he had met the formerly hyperactive boy, found herself depressed around him. In a move that shocked the boy, she enveloped him in a comforting embrace.

"This… this is from Hinata. She wanted to tell you… well, for the longest time, since the academy days, she had a crush on you. She told me to tell you that… that she loved you. She wanted you to be happy. I'm sure that she wanted you to use her eyes to become a great shinobi, to accomplish your dream and become Hokage. I…"

Sakura drifted off, unable to continue. Naruto had streams of tears running down his face. He had a very mixed expression on his face. It was partly joy at finding someone who loved him, extreme sadness that he had lost said person before he could love her back, and a small amount of comfort, knowing that she cared enough to endanger her clan's secrets so that he, the most hated person in the village, could continue to be a shinobi.

Neither one knew how long they stood there. Time didn't matter to them. After a while, Naruto calmed down. Uncharacteristically, he hiccupped once and stopped. Sakura, seeing the mess his face was in, grabbed a handkerchief from… somewhere… and handed it to him. He nodded in thanks and wiped his face and blew his nose. Folding the soiled cloth, he sheepishly handed it back to the girl, who smiled and tucked it away again.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah…"

Suddenly, Naruto's vision became blurry. For a Byakugan user, when their eyes are active, it's impossible to have blurry or imperfect vision, save for their one blind spot. However, this was happening to Naruto. Imagine, if you can wrap your mind around it, being able to see not only ahead, but to each side, above, below, and behind minus one blind spot. Then give it perfect vision and the ability to zoom your vision in any direction for miles. Then imagine looking through walls and other solid objects. Now, on top of this already hard to grasp concept, add another plane of sight.

Not only could Naruto see all around him as he (now) usually did, he could also see… a room. Both sights were translucent, and he could see both at the same time. In this room, he could see a mirror. The reflection in the mirror, however, was far from his own. Hyuuga Hinata's reflection was staring back out. It looked somewhat depressed. Then, he could hear her voice.

"I… I wanted to tell him. I've been watching Naruto-kun for the longest time. I thought I'd have my chance when he came back, but… then… well, things just got carried away. Next time I see you, I will tell him… that I love him."

With that, the image faded. He was blasted back into reality as Sakura started shaking him.

"Naruto, what's wrong!"

"Sakura… I just… I just saw one of Hinata's memories… I think."

Sakura stared at him, open mouthed. Her expression then changed to one of deep pondering. With her eyebrows furrowed, she said "Well, Kakashi-sensei did say that something like that could happen. Memories of times when Obito went through some extreme emotion sometimes come to him. He said the same could happen to you, but he wasn't sure. I guess it wasn't just the copying ability of the Sharingan that recorded the memories. I was right…"

She drifted off. Her gaze wandered all around the market place, finally drifting up to look at the horizon. The sky ranged from a beautiful burnt orange color all the way down to dark blues and violets. A huge red sun was slowly sinking underneath the treetops visible over the top of Konoha's wall.

"Naruto… it's getting late. You should get home and go to bed."

"O…Ok. What about you?"

"Ah, don't worry about me. I slept all afternoon."

"…Why?"

"I have an evening shift at the hospital. Every medic nin helps!"

"Ah, I see. Well, good luck."

"Thanks. See you later, Naruto."

"Bye."

The two friends went their separate ways. As Naruto made his way back to his apartment, he let his mind wander again, but this time, he didn't dwell on any specific through for more than a few seconds. Finally making his way back into his home, he carefully took off his jacket and his black undershirt and the mesh shirt underneath that, as well as his pants. Meticulously folding them, he placed them on a chair that was relatively clean. He grimaced as he saw the 5 other bags of nearly identical clothing sitting in the corner. Deciding he's sort through it tomorrow, he crawled into his near meticulously made bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Tsunade wasn't having a good morning. She had an absolutely monster of a hangover from drinking herself into a stupor last night. That took quite a lot of sake… But then again, it wouldn't have been so bad this morning if it wasn't for the cold stare of one Hyuuga clan head.

Hiashi was sitting stiffly in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk. He held a purely ornamental cane across his lap. His traditional dress was immaculate, as usual, and not a hair of his long and seemingly silky smooth black hair was out of place. His lips, however, seemed frozen in a perpetual frown.

Tsunade rubbed her temples, hoping that the headache would go away soon. She glanced at the clock. It read 8:57. _'Naruto should be here any minute...'_

Then, a voice, slightly muffled from outside the door, yelled "Tsunade-obasama! What did you OOF!"

Right when the speaker said OOF, the door shook as something apparently collided with it. After a moment, the door swung open. There stood Naruto in another set of his new cloths. He was holding a piece of cloth, probably some spare bandages from his pocket, to his nose to stem the blood. Behind him, rolling on the ground, two of the most elite ninja in the village, ANBU, were laughing their heads off. One hadn't even noticed that his mask had fallen off and that his face was free for the entire world to see.

Naruto grumbled and blushed, managing to look both annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. He walked into the room and sat down. After a few moments of silence, he put away the cloth as his nose had stopped bleeding.

"Oba-sama, what's Oto… Hiashi-sama doing here?"

Tsunade sighed before saying "That's why I wanted you here. We have to settle something. You now are the proud owner of one pair of Byakugan eyes, which should belong solely to the Hyuuga Clan."

"So, it's true then."

Hiashi's cold voice made Naruto jump slightly.

"Yeah, it's true. They're damn annoying too. I can't turn them off and it seems they like making walls transparent just so that I can run into them…"

Tsunade was having a hard time keeping her face straight, and if you looked REALLY hard, you could see a small upturn of Hiashi's lips.

"So… what can he do about it?"

"Naruto-san, those eyes belong to the Hyuuga Clan. I cannot let anyone outside of our family to possess them."

"But… if you take them, how will I see?"

"That is not my problem."

For a moment, Naruto was silent.

"Hiashi-sama, do you deny that these eyes once belonged to Hinata?"

"No, only her Byakugan had such a lavender tint to them."

"Also, do you deny that, on the battlefield, a ninja's last words can be used as a legal will?"

"…No, I do not deny that."

"Also, do you deny that medic nin are held responsible as witnesses to a dying ninja's last oral will?"

"No, I do not deny it."

"Well… in that case, we have one witness, a Haruno Sakura, who heard Hyuuga Hinata's last words, which were instructions to surgically implant these eyes into me to replace the ones I had lost in battle. Legally, these eyes belong to me. And there's nothing you can do about it!"

At that last phrase, Naruto made a face at Hiashi. Everyone in the room, as well as the two ANBU outside the room, sweat dropped. Hell, even the bird flying outside the window sweat dropped, staring at the boy's childish actions, before running into the side of the tower, breaking its neck, and falling to its death.

"… In all honesty, I'm not interested in repossessing the eyes. I'm worried about the secrets of the Hyuuga getting out. If these eyes were transplanted from Hinata to you, then they can be taken from your body and studied by our enemies. If they knew all the secrets of the Byakugan, then our effectiveness as shinobi would be drastically reduced."

He paused.

"Therefore, I demand that the Caged Bird seal be placed on him to remove the possibility of his eyes being stolen."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Tsunade screamed.

"And why would that be, Hokage-sama."

"Because I don't want to loose a valuable ninja because some Hyuuga decided it wants to off 'The Demon' to gain some recognition. No offence, Naruto."

"None taken. However, there is no need for the cursed seal."

"And, prey tell, why not?" Hiashi said.

"Hiashi-sama… do you know why Jinchuuriki always die when their demons are removed?"

"…No."

"It's because their bodies become… the only word for it is addicted… to their tenant's chakra."

"…Go on."

"My body has been exposed to this chakra since birth… well, shortly after, but who's counting? In any case, the effects of withdrawal would be catastrophic to say the least. If, somehow, I survived, I would suffer from extreme panic attacks, a highly weakened immune system, and possibly some mental retardation. Most likely, I would die."

Hiashi was shocked… but he didn't show it.

"Go on."

"These eyes, when they were introduced into my body, were instantly flooded by Youkai. Just from the fact that they're still working means that they adapted. Now, they too are addicted. Even more so because more chakra passes through these eyes to make them run than most other parts of my body. In other words, if they were to be removed, they would certainly whither up and die before they could be effectively studied. It works in much as the same way as the Caged Bird seal, from what I've heard."

"…I see."

The room was quiet for a moment as Hiashi pondered this new information.

"…What assurances to I have that you will not sell the information of how the Byakugan works to the highest bidder?"

At this, Naruto became visibly angry. Red tendrils of chakra started swirling around him as he spoke.

"Because, to do so would desecrate Hinata's memory. I'm not so low as to take the final gift of one of my precious people and turn around and sell it. I may not be the most respected person out there, but do you really think so low of me as to suspect me of being a traitor? You forget, I'm not like Uchiha-teme… either one of them."

Hiashi looked, surprisingly, ashamed of himself.

"…Very well. I apologize."

"… You're forgiven."

"… I would, however, like to offer you a deal."

"What sort of deal?"

"In exchange for the full support of the Hyuuga Clan as well as access to Branch level Jyuuken instruction, you must marry inside the clan…"

Here he was cut off by a huge "NO WAY!" from Naruto.

"…You didn't let me finish…"

Naruto sat still.

"As I was saying, you will marry inside the clan when you turn 18 unless you meet two criteria. If you wish to get out of this arranged marriage, you must have not only reached Jounin rank, but also be engaged. Should one or both not be met, the betrothal and subsequent marriage will take place. Do you accept?"

Naruto sat for a moment. A chance to learn the most powerful Taijutsu in the village, possibly even in the world, in exchange for the chance of an arranged marriage? He weighed the pros and the cons carefully, sorting them by importance and comparing them. Finally he came to his conclusion…

"I accept."

Hiashi smiled.

"Good. Hokage-sama, do you bear witness to said agreement?"

"Yes. I'll have Shizune write it down later and get you to sign it. Now, is there anything that either of you have to discuss?"

"Yeah, who's gonna be training me?"

"You are quite familiar with Neji-san, are you not?"

"Yeah…"

"Well then, I guess he'll do as a suitable instructor."

Naruto paled and gulped. His life was over…

* * *

Hey there! Halo here! Now, I know you're happy and all that I wrote a decently long chapter, but now I have some work for you. I need your input! This may not seem relevant to the near future of the story line, but it is. Should Naruto have an arranged marriage (and fall in love) with someone from the Hyuuga clan, or should he find a fiancé elsewhere? I have several ideas for both possibilities, but I'm not sure which one to choose. Therefore, I'll let you decide!

The running total is (obviously)

Arranged Marriage: 0

Fiancé: 0

well, I hope you enjoyed the story! Laters!


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